Infantino in criticism
The FIFA Bang and its consequences
Updated on May 16, 2025 – 1:28 p.m.Reading time: 3 min.
Eklat, affront or important statement? Closed in Europe, leading football officials leave the Congress of the World Association. Now FIFA boss Infantino has to show how he deals with the criticism.
After the coffee break, many places on the podium remained empty. But Europe’s football officials hadn’t used the buffet for too long. DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf and the other Council members sent by the UEFA left the FIFA Congress in Asunción prematurely.
The campaign was planned and had a special reason. That had happened in the capital of Paraguay.
With her campaign, UEFA President Aleksander Čefer, DFB boss Neuendorf and her colleagues, wanted to set an example that her patience is limited with World Association Director Gianni Infantino. Already the Middle East trip of the FIFA leader as the companion of US President Donald Trump had been angry with them. The Council session therefore had to be postponed, in the run-up to the congress, Infantino was missing from many compulsory appointments.
Addiction of validity was a subliminally expressed accusation. Infantino had lost the “inner compass”, the English newspaper “The Times” quoted a congress participant.
Until the acute delay on the Congress Day, the presidential behavior was tolerated. The breakdown with the timing of the private jet was probably not in the immediate area of responsibility infantinos. But having blown the late risk of an ego trip to the Golf at all, blurring him Europe’s officials.
Many cannot endure the Swiss show of the Swiss in Trump-Tross. “A short -term change in the schedule, which apparently only serves private political interests, is not doing football a favor and seems to take its interests back,” said UEFA.
Ultimately, the absence of Europeans was insignificant for the FIFA congress. The officials sit more for the staffage on the podium, similar to politicians at a party congress. Infantino did the program as if nothing had happened. But the symbolic character is crucial. Indirectly, the officials withdraw from the FIFA boss. The signaled motto: we no longer participate in your games. We have our own agenda.
“We are all in the service of football-from the street to the podium. The UEFA members of the FIFA Council saw it necessary to emphasize on this occasion that football comes first, and to take off the congress as originally planned,” it said. Neuendorf and Co. walked at the time at which the session would have been over without the infantino delay.
The protest falls at a time when the worst grave battles between Infantino and the Europeans actually seemed to be finished. Whether the Mammut World Cup with 48 participants or the new club World Cup with the premiere this summer in the USA. All conflict zones seemed eliminated. How Brüchig the Burgfrieden can be now came to light.
The new conflict comes for Neuendorf. The DFB had just overcome the worst arguments with FIFA. The time of the frontal confrontation at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is over. There had been arranged in factual issues, also because Neuendorf passed a clever rapprochement program. The DFB boss will probably hold back publicly when dealing with the Causa Asunción. However, the solidarity with the Europeans around Ceferin cannot be shaken. It is more important for German football.
A lot depends on Infantino’s crisis management. If the FIFA boss reacts or insulted, there could be permanent disputes. His beautiful FIFA motto, “clubs the world through football”, was ramponized. However, if Infantino reacts with leniency and size, he can possibly downplay the events. The Swiss is a power man, he will weigh up, which will help him more in the coming months. At the upcoming club World Cup, Europe’s top clubs such as FC Bayern Munich in the USA will boost the advertising machine.